Billy The Kid Meets Dracula's Daughter
by Caretaker13
Summary: Dedicated to my friend Bruce. This is sort of my homage to Billy The Kid vs. Dracula, but with a much more historically accurate Billy and Dracula's daughter from the Universal film of the same name.
1. Late Night Rendezvous

**Billy The Kid Meets Dracula's Daughter**

It was late in the summer of 1881 as a dark stage coach made it's way across the lonesome dessert landscape of the New Mexico Territory in the southwestern part of America. It carried in it only one passenger, a young man who sat slouched in his seat with his head leaning against the coach's side wall and his hat pulled down over his face in order to better get some shut-eye during the long journey from La Junta to Fort Sumner.

Just after nine'o'clock in the evening, the coach pulled up to a station in the small town of Roswell, though, to pick up one more passenger before going on to its final destination. The coach driver brought his horses to a stop next to the old wooden building and then dismounted to assist the lone woman who stood outside waiting, noting as he did so that she was dressed all in black, including a black cloak with a hood that was pulled over her head. A widow, he figured, and so he didn't question it. All he asked her was, "Any luggage?"

The woman, whose young, lovely face was as pale as the moon, shook her head no.

The driver shrugged and then opened the door to the coach and helped her inside.

"Thank you," the woman said, once she had climbed aboard and taken her seat across from the sleeping man. She had an accent that was hard to place. The old driver tipped his hat to her and then shut the door.

"We'll be in Fort Sumner in a few hours," he announced, and then he climbed back up to the driver's box and yelled, "Yah!" which urged the horses onward.

For about an hour the mysterious woman sat in silence, looking out her window at the desolate landscape passing her by. There was something about the way the moonlight made the rocks and dead trees cast eerie shadows on the dessert sand that made her feel comfortable and at peace. This place reminded her of her homeland far, far away. She was so lost in the beauty and decay of the southwest, plus her own far away thoughts that she didn't even pay any attention to her sleeping traveling companion. That is until somewhere off in the distance there could be heard a plaintive howling.

"Children of the night," the woman said to herself in a dreamy kind of way.

"Coyotes," said the man sitting across from her, suddenly, and with certainty. "What sweet music they make, huh?"

He pushed his hat up with one finger. "How do you do, ma'am," he said and then yawned.

"Greetings," said the woman formally. "I am Countess Zaleska. Marya Zaleska."

"The name's William Bonn- er, Roberts. William Roberts. You can call me Bill, though," said the man with a polite tip of his hat.

Countess Zaleska studied him for a moment. Sticking out from underneath his dark colored hat was short, wavy blonde hair which looked like it was as soft as down feathers. His eyes were a clear baby blue that looked innocent, yet intelligent at the same time, and he had a crooked smile that made her smile slightly herself. Everything about the man gave her the impression of a little boy. In fact, he couldn't possibly be more than nineteen or twenty, Zaleska thought.

"Pleasure to meet you, Bill," she said.

"You French?" Bill asked, bluntly.

The countess gave a small laugh. "No, I am from Transylvania." she said. "In central Europe."

"You're a long way from home," said Billy, almost threateningly.

Countess Zaleska could tell that that was unintentional. She could sense when someone was being hostile or not.

"I've come to... to visit an old friend," she said.

"In Fort Sumner?" Bill asked. "What's their name. I might know them."

"It is doubtful. His name is Dr. Jeffrey Garth. He has not lived in this country for very long."

"Ah. I see," said Bill. "Well, I'm not one to pry into other people's business." He leaned back and looked out his own window for a moment.

There was an awkward silence.

"Beautiful country," said Countess Zaleska, suddenly, trying to break it. "Are you from Fort Sumner?"

"Silver City," Bill said, looking back at her.

"Pretty name," she said. "Though I am not especially fond of silver."

Bill happened to glance down at the countess's pale hands, which she held in her lap. She wore a large, ornate, gold ring with a jewel in it on one finger.

"Prefer gold, do yuh?" Bill asked.

The countess looked down at the ring herself.

"Oh, yes, an old family heirloom," she said. "So what brings you to make this trip?" she asked, changing the subject.

"I'm visiting an old friend too... of sorts," said Bill. "Name o' Pete."

Bill furrowed his brow and then looked out the window again with a sad expression on his face that Zaleska immediately recognized.

Countess Zaleska was a woman with many secrets and so could easily tell when others were keeping some of their own. This Bill was a friendly, outgoing type, but she could sense there were many things, many dark things, about himself that he must keep hidden from others. She could relate.

"I'm not one to pry either," she said, wondering is she should continue, "But I get the sense that you are in some kind of trouble."

Bill gave her a an angry look that quickly turned to curious.

"Ain't everybody in one way or another?" he said.

"Forgive me, I did not mean to be so forward," said Zaleska. "It's just that you seem awfully burdened for one so young."

"I'm twenty-one, I''ll have you know," said Bill, indignantly. "And you can't be all that much older than me."

"Appearances can be deceiving," said Zaleska.

Bill gave her a sideways glance. Something about her, maybe her foreignness, made her incredibly appealing and he couldn't be too offended by what she said even if he wanted to be.

"If I seem burdened it's because I am," he said. "My mother died six years ago come September, my stepfather abandoned me. Now here I am out in the dessert alone trying to make my own way with life trying to thwart me at every turn."

"I am sorry," said Zaleska. "My father also died. Recently."

"Seems like that's all parents are good for, eh?" said Bill, bitterly. Then he laughed a humorless laugh.

Countess Zaleska was a cold woman, but she could still feel some things like passion, pain, and even pity under the right circumstances. At this moment she wasn't quite sure what she felt, but she felt it very strongly for this lonely orphan boy sitting across from her trying so hard to be a tough guy.

"My ring," she said, suddenly, holding it up. "You commented on it. Would you like to get a closer look?" she held it out to Bill, who gave her a questioning glance and then took her hand in his and looked at the ring. He suddenly began to feel very warm and content. The anger that had been building up inside him since he'd started thinking about his life began to slip away to be replaced by a blank nothingness that felt good.

"Bill," Countess Zaleska whispered. Bill looked up into her deep brown eyes with his dazed blue ones. "Bill, how would you like to never be alone again? How would you like to be forever young and have power beyond your wildest dreams?"

"Okay," Bill said in a small, far away voice.

The countess leaned down and at the same time pulled Bill's neck towards her mouth.

Several hours later the stage coach pulled into the Fort Sumner station. The driver climbed down from his box again and opened the door for his passengers. Countess Zaleska stepped out looking alert and refreshed. Her hood was pulled down and she greeted the late night air like an old friend. Stumbling behind her out of the coach came Bill looking happy, yet dizzy, like he'd just spent the night at a saloon with a brothel above it.

After they had both disembarked and made their way out of the driver's earshot, the countess took Bill by the shoulders and looked him over. He wore a red scarf around his neck and she pulled that up to hide the two puncture marks she had made in his jugular.

"I'm not usually so impetuous," she said to him. "I feel like a young maiden again."

"I tend to bring that out in ladies," Bill said with cockiness.

Zaleska gave him a stern look. "Now don't go getting too full of yourself. You're only half way there. Tomorrow night after I've completed my business here, I will come for you at your friend's house and we will leave this place together."

"I know, I know," said Bill, annoyed. "I ain't a kid, you don't have to keep after me like that."

Countess Zaleska looked at him and again was brought to smile just by his boyish charm alone. It must be your young blood," she said and then leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. To spite himself, he blushed.

"Goodbye, Bill," said the countess. Then she turned and walked away.

"Hasta que nos volvamos a ver," Bill whispered after her.

Then they went their separate ways.

 **To Be Continued**


	2. Blast From The Past

Countess Zaleska walked the dusty streets of Fort Sumner for an hour without ever seeing another person. She was a creature of the night, and so, not afraid to be alone in the dark. Mere mortals, however, were not as fearless and were all at home in bed when the town clock tolled the witching hour. The countess was happy to walk among the shadows unobserved. It made her hopefully short visit to this town all the more clandestine if no one were to see her here.

Unfortunately, as she passed a Chinese laundry on the outskirts of town, someone did see her. A rough looking hooligan who'd been drinking in an alleyway glanced up and squinted at the cloaked figure of the countess as she passed by him.

"Hey, darlin'! Hey, darling'!" he called out to her, loudly.

Zaleska turned sharply like a startled bird and gave the man a death glare.

He took no notice of it, though, and instead sauntered over to her, spilling whiskey out of the bottle in his hand with every step. As soon as he got up close to her he cocked the bowler hat on his head at what he must have thought was a jaunty angle and then reached out to grab the countess. She recoiled at his filthy hand.

"Whatchu doin' out here all by your lonesome, pretty little thing like you," the man said.

Zaleska just glared at him, angrily. He was making far too much noise and would no doubt draw the attention of people in the nearby buildings to her soon enough. Plus, he was wasting her time.

"Lemme walk you home, baby," the man said, moving towards the countess. He stumbled and Zaleska took that as an opportunity to lunge at him. She caught the man's head with her hand, clamping it over his mouth to keep him quiet, then she took his throat in her teeth. She pushed him back into the alley as she jerked and tore his throat out. He tried to scream and struggle, but it was no use. A moment later all he made were some gurgling noises as he choked to death on his own blood and Zaleska left him and stepped back out of the alley, wiping her mouth. The man would not be recovering from their tryst the way Bill had.

Zaleska looked around to see if there had been any witnesses, but all the windows in the buildings nearby were dark and there was still no one else out on the street. She composed herself like a proper lady and then continued on her journey. It was only ten minutes later that she arrived at the place she intended to. A small cottage with a stone chimney and a sign on the front door that said:

 **Doctor Jeffrey Garth, PhD**

 **Please knock before entering.**

The countess knocked politely and then raised up her hood to hide her face. Presently, a young blonde woman opened the door.

"Yes, how may I help you?" she asked the strange visitor.

"Is the doctor at home?" asked Countess Zaleska.

"I'm afraid he's been out at the Miller farm all evening. Their little boy has the fever and... you'll have to come back tomorrow during normal hours." The woman suddenly became afraid and tried to shut the door, but Zaleska held up her ring before she could.

"I do not think so," the countess said.

The woman stopped and starred at the ring.

"Yes ma'am, won't you come inside and wait?" she asked in a dreamy, far off voice.

Countess Zaleska nodded and then entered, shutting the door behind her.

* * *

Sometime a short while later there came the sound of a key in the lock of the front door and Dr. Garth, a thin, older gentleman with thinning hair, pushed open the door, surprised to find it already unlocked.

"Janet!" he called inside the house, worriedly. It was pitch black inside. "Janet!" he called again in more distress and then he ran inside. He found the nearest oil lamp in the living room and lit it with a match. The room was empty, so he took up the lamp in his hand and ran down the hallway with it to his office. Inside, with her back facing him, sat Janet in his wooden swivel desk chair.

"Janet," he said to her, walking over and grabbing her shoulder to turn her around. When he did, he screamed and almost dropped the lamp. Janet sat there starring at him with dead, glassy eyes. Her throat had been slit and she was drenched in blood. Dr. Garth backed out of the room in horror and went to run from the house when he saw Countess Zaleska's dark figure waiting at the end of the hall.

"You!" he shouted in disgust. "You're dead!"

"Undead," the countess said with a small smirk.

"I saw that arrow pierce your heart," said the doctor, trying to make any sense that he could out of this.

"I'm a woman. My heart has been pierced many times and yet I am not destroyed," said Zaleska. "Too bad the same can not be said of your child bride."

"You monster!" Garth spat at her. "You evil THING!"

"And yet you were willing to give yourself to me once," Zaleska said, coolly. "To become my lover. Have you forgotten? Now you can keep your word."

"I only agreed to that if you spared Janet. Now she's dead. I wouldn't be with you if my soul depended on it," said the doctor. His voice quivered, but he spoke loud and forcefully out of rage and fear.

"Yes, I thought you might feel that way," Zaleska said, advancing on Garth. "To be truly honest I didn't really come here expecting to collect you. I came to tie up loose ends and maybe even start a new beginning. All that is left now in order to accomplish that is your death." She spoke calmly and rationally, which only made what she said seem more deranged. The doctor tried to back away from her, but he was caught between the advancing vampire and the room containing his dead wife. All he could think to do was to throw the oil lamp he held in his hand at his enemy. He did, but she deflected it, sending it crashing into a wall. It exploded and immediately set the wall ablaze. The doctor tried to run past Zaleska to escape her and the fire, but she caught him by the throat. She was much stronger than a mortal woman and had no problem lifting the man off his feet. Then, with one swift action, she plunged her other hand into his chest and pulled out his beating heart.

"You set my heart aflame, doctor," she said to his now lifeless corpse and then she sank her teeth into the organ.

Within moments the entire building was an inferno and Countess Zaleska very casually walked out the front door of it just as the roof began to collapse. Soon the nearby townsfolk would be swarming the place out of curiosity and alarm, but by then the Countess would be long gone from the scene.

 **To Be Continued**


	3. Rebels, Outlaws, & Children of the Night

Earlier that same day, Sheriff Pat Garrett had also arrived in Fort Sumner on an afternoon stage, and, along with two associates of his, John Poe and Kip McKinney, had began to search for Bill throughout the town. How he knew Bill would be in Fort Sumner is uncertain, but an anonymous tip from a concerned citizen seems the most likely answer. Garrett was a thin, mustacheod man who looked like the law; stern and humorless, and he had been chasing Bill for quiet a while. Some folks might even say that the two were each other's nemesis.

By the time Bill had left the station at night, and parted ways with the mysterious Countess Zaleska, it was too late to do anything fun. All the saloons and dance halls were closed, so Bill began to head towards the house of the man he had come to see, Pete Maxwell. Pete was the brother of one of Bill's many lady friends and he knew that his door would be open to him if ever he needed a place to lie low, like now.

He wandered through the quiet, empty town alone until he came to the large, wooden, Maxwell residence with its white picket fence and second story veranda. He knocked on the door quietly. After a few minutes, Pete opened the door in his bedclothes, holding a lit candle.

"Billy?" he asked in a hoarse voice. Clearly he'd just been awoken.

"Yeah," said Bill, matter-of-factly.

In the low glow of the candlelight Bill's eyes glinted like cat's eyes and it spooked Pete for a minute.

"I didn't think you'd be here til tomorrow. It's so late," said Pete.

"Should I leave?" Bill asked, annoyed.

"No, no, come in," said Pete, opening wide the door and gesturing for Bill to enter.

Bill did so smoothly and silently.

After closing the door behind him, Pete turned to Bill.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

As soon as Pete said that, Bill suddenly became acutely aware of the jugular vein in his friend's neck. The sound of it throbbing became louder and louder until Bill couldn't stand it.

"Are you okay?" asked Pete, noticing the odd look on Bill's face.

"What? Yes," said Bill, shaking his head and clearing his thoughts. "Am I what? Am I hungry?"

"Yeah," said Pete. "I just butchered a yearling earlier today and if you want your welcome to some of the meat."

"No thanks," said Bill. His appetite just having up and left him.

"Well if you change your mind, let me know," said Pete.

"Will do," said Bill.

"You can sleep in the far room down the way," Pete said, gesturing. To get to the room indicated, Bill would have to go back outside and down to the next door along the porch, since all the bedrooms were outside access only.

"Thanks," he said. "You're a real friend for helping me."

Pete just nodded.

"Say, I don't suppose you'd feel up to a game of cards or something before bed?" asked Bill.

"Too tired," said Pete. "But the Mexicans across the way always have a game going until all hours. You might try there."

"I know them," said Bill. He knew lots of people in Fort Sumner. "I'll try there and then come back and bed down here later."

"Suit yourself," said Pete.

* * *

Later that night as Bill played poker, he began to feel a queasy feeling in his stomach. As he looked around the poker table at the people he played with he started to become aware of the blood pumping through their bodies just like with Pete earlier. He began to sweat and twitch. He didn't know what was happening to him, but he knew he suddenly did feel hungry. Remembering what Pete had told him earlier about the meat, he excused himself from the game and took a butcher knife from the kitchen of his hosts.

"I'm just gonna go over to Pete's real quick," he told the Mexicans who just shrugged and continued playing cards.

As Bill made his way across the dusty courtyard to Pete's place next door, he realized he had headed out without putting his boots or hat on.

Where is your head at? He thought to himself.

As he approached the door to Pete's room he noticed two men sitting on the porch outside of it. He didn't recognize them, but when they looked at him it immediately gave him an eerie feeling.

"Don't be startled," one of them said and they both stood up and came towards Bill. Bill kept his eyes on them as he backed into Pete's room with the knife in his hand. Once inside he shut the door and walked over to Pete's bed in the dark. In a low voice he said "Pete…Who are those fellows outside?"

"That's him," was Pete's only response.

Bill walked closer to the bed and again asked "Pete?", then he saw the silhouette of a figure sitting at the end of Pete's bed. Bill moved back slowly, and said "Quien es? Quien es?" He had at least remembered to wear his gunbelt and so he reached down to draw his pistol. Before he could fire it, though, the shadowy figure fired two shots of his own. The second one missed, but the first hit Bill square in the heart and he fell to the floor with his gun in one hand and the butcher knife in the other. There was a short gasp of breath, and then Bill died.

Pete quickly lit the candle next to his bed, illuminating the small room and the face of Pat Garrett, the man who had just shot and killed Billy the Kid. His two associates, Poe and McKinney, came running into the room from the porch outside. Pete hopped out of bed and the four men stood over Bill's lifeless body, unsure exactly what to do or say. What is there to say when a legend dies?

News traveled quickly through the small town. Most of the neighbors had been woken up by the gunfire and soon the word of Bill's death was everywhere. Garrett allowed The Kid's friends to take his body across the plaza to the carpenter's shop to give him a wake. The next morning a Justice of the Peace, Milnor Rudulph, viewed the body and made out the death certificate, and afterwards, before the sun had completely risen, with the beautiful New Mexico landscape painted purple, pink, and orange, a mysterious European woman dressed in all black and wearing a black cloak joined the crowd of grieving mourners around Bill's body. She went up to him and looked down at The kid's face, which was as innocent in death as a little boy's, surrounded by candles and marigolds. While no one was looking she pricked her index finger with the sharp nail of her thumb, then she ran her finger along Bill's lips, painting them blood red, which gave him the appearance of life again.

Then she was gone.

Later that night after the funeral, in which Bill was buried with his boots on, after all the lawmen had left town and all of Bill's grieving friends and lovers had left the cemetery, the ground over Bill's grave began to stir. All of a sudden a hand pierced the Earth and shot out of the grave, then another hand. They scrambled and clawed at the dirt to gain some kind of support as Bill hoisted himself up and rose from the grave. He was filthy and confused and looked around himself at the empty graveyard like a lost child. But the graveyard wasn't completely empty, as Bill soon saw when his eyes, which could see in the dark as well as any nocturnal creature now, came upon the sight of Countess Zaleska astride a great black horse, her black cloak blowing in the cold night air. She reached out a pale, slender hand to him. At first he wasn't sure what to do, but then he shook himself free of the dirt like a dog would and went over and took the woman's hand. With supernatural strength she pulled him onto the horse behind her and he wrapped his arms around her waist, then she shouted, "Yah!" and the two of them rode off together in the moonlight while somewhere in the distance a haunting Mexican tune was being strummed out on an old guitar.

* * *

One week, and one long boat ride (of which there was no survivors) later, and Bill and the countess arrived in Transylvania where they took a stage coach up into the Carpathian mountains to the Borgo Pass until they finally came upon Castle Dracula, which was an enormous, gothic structure that towered over a small village on one side and a seemingly bottomless ravine on the other.

"Homey," said Bill, once the couple had stepped out of the coach.

The countess opened one of the castle's large, wooden doors and then lead the way inside. The foyer of the castle was enormous and covered with dust and spider webs as well as old crumbling furniture. Bill followed her in, noticing movement out of the corner of his eye, he looked over in time to see an armadillo creeping around under a sofa.

"Feels like home already," he said with a smile. A smile that showed two sharp canines now among the rest of his crooked teeth.

Sometime later the two were married. A Cult leader named Hjalmar Poelzig, who looked remarkably like Boris Karloff, presided over their nuptials, reading the ceremony from the pages of _The Rites of Lucifer._ If any of Bill's friend's had been there they would have laughed at the notion that The Kid had finally gotten hitched at the tender age of only twenty-one, but then they may have also found it funny that one of the most notorious outlaws that time would ever know, was also a vampire now and married to the daughter of one of the most notorious monsters time would ever see.

 **The End?**


End file.
